timidi

stickman393


If you only have 4 GB or less, then in my opinion you won't be gaining anything by going to Win 64. 

If you have >= 8 GB Ram in your PC, then Windows 7 64 + SONAR 32 is a very nice combination.

Could you elaborate stickman?
Thanks

Basically, 32 bit windows can't see more than 4gb, whereas 64 bit can see up to 192gb.

The principal benefit of 64 bit is this ability to address more memory. So the reasoning is that going 64 bit but staying at 4gb isn't especially advantageous.

It's when you add more memory you start to see the difference. Not just in loading sample libraries, which has already been touched on, but less frequent use of disk-based virtual memory is a system wide benefit.

Dumb question, but I need to know - what RAM would SONAR see running as a 32 bit program under a 64 bit OS?

I'm not an expert here, so someone else will no doubt be able to give a more accurate response. But broadly...

Sonar itself doesn't really need very much memory to get its end of the job done. What eats memory is instruments and plug-ins. The restriction of using Sonar 32 bit in a 64 bit computer is that those plug-ins will have to be the 32 bit versions.

This means that the plug-ins (theoretically) are constrained in the amount of memory they can address. So the direct working benefits are very marginal.

To put it another way: you'll be seeing no real benefits within Sonar. However, your system overall may well be running more smoothly, which is a general workflow benefit.

Something I'd say here: I think a lot of the time, it's easy to make more expensive upgrades than necessary. There is often a lot of untapped potential in people's machines.

I've had the same basic machine since 2007. However, last year I went from 4gb on WinXP 32 bit, to 6gb on Win7 64 bit, plus an SSD system drive.

The increase in performance is tangibly huge. Higher track counts, more VST instruments playing, faster and snappier to work with across the board. That whole upgrade cost me about 250 quid.

32-bit applications in a 32-bit OS can address (by default - unless you change some settings in windows) 2GB of RAM. The same 32-bit applications (if written well) in a 64-bit OS can address close to 4GB RAM.
So, there is some benefit to running x64, even if you only use 32-bit apps.
I would say it the other way around. You would not see a benefit in running 32-bit OS. Go for 64-bit if your hardware has 64-bit drivers all the way.

If you're going to upgrade, be aware that a direct upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit is not possible. You can do easy transfer (it's on the windows 7 disc somewhere) to transfer all your files and settings to an external disk. Then install your 64-bit windows, and do easy transfer to transfer everything back.

On WIN64 every DLL(32bit)  get's to see 4GB. So system memory with 32bit Sonar is put to use.
Sonar 32bit does give you a 64bit audiomixing path. Question is, will plugins?

64bit windows & 64bit Sonar may give you 64bit plugins, wich could lead (especially in large projects) to cleaner audio with more depth due to no rounding errors only at mixdown at dithering. 

If you start a new project and use everything 64bit there will be less available plugins but with usually better quality (being VSTi's who can address large portions of RAM and higher bitrates, meaning clearer cleaner calculations wich you may hear......(or not). 

John T


I'm not an expert here, so someone else will no doubt be able to give a more accurate response. But broadly...

Sonar itself doesn't really need very much memory to get its end of the job done. What eats memory is instruments and plug-ins. The restriction of using Sonar 32 bit in a 64 bit computer is that those plug-ins will have to be the 32 bit versions.

This means that the plug-ins (theoretically) are constrained in the amount of memory they can address. So the direct working benefits are very marginal.

I understand that perfectly John.

What I was trying to say was - would I get the benefit of, say, 16GB of RAM in 32bit Sonar under 64 bit Windows?

I've have memory limitations in the past trying to run many instances of EWQLSO

asimmd


Hi All
 
Apologies if this has been asked before.
 
I am thinking it's time to upgrade my Hard Drives for something bigger,and while I am
doing this i thought I would also go from Vista to Win7.
 
Question is,32bit or 64,does it really matter.
 
I use Sonar X1 and I also play a few games on the same machine.
 
I have an Intel Quad 6600 with 4 gig ram,Abit mainboard.
 
Thanks
 
Alan
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If you want to do an in place upgrade to Windows 8 on the desktop one day, install 64 bit Win 7 now. Actually, there should be no question about it. Even if you only had 1 gig of memory, run 64 bit Win 7. The only reason not to run a 64 bit OS now would be if your audio hardware/drivers did not support it.  As far as Sonar is concerned, the only reason I run the 64 bit .EXE is for large projects. I don't like the behavior of the bitbridges with my UAD plugins

Ah, right. In that case, Muziekschuur's answer covers it. It should be happier to run more plugins and bigger sample sets, yes.